


Eyes and ears, love blooms in a whisper

by HogwartsToAlexandria



Series: Marie's Stony Shorts 2019 [19]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Coma, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Outsider, Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Relationship, Put on the Suit Server H/C Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 02:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20667656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria
Summary: If you're wondering about what would have happened if Tony hadn't woken up right after he fell from the wormhole at the end of the battle of New York and had been in a coma instead, well, Pam can tell you how that would have gone.Put on the Suit, Server H/c bingo Fill, T4: "Please wake up"Hurt/Comfort Bingo 2019 Round 10 Fill, B1: "Coma"





	Eyes and ears, love blooms in a whisper

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! My first entry for the Put on the Suit server H/c bingo! I filled the square "please wake up" and had fun with it so I hope you will too! This event is a fantastic idea and I have to thank our dear mods for setting it up 💜 you guys rock. 
> 
> Another, terrific lady I need to thank is the wholesome betheflame, relentless and excellent, every time. She betad this story for me. Thank you lovely 💚

Pam is a nurse at Metropolitan Hospital Center. She used to work down in the pit - she's seen some shit in her twenty-plus years of working there. From car accidents to near-epidemic flows of flu patients and other, much more dramatic, events. Patients in all shapes and states she's taken care of without batting an eye. 

But she no longer works there. No, she transferred to the ICU about a month before this dreadful thing with space monsters happened in the city. Her hands still shake a bit just thinking about it, but what most touches her - what keeps her on her feet and working diligently, restlessly, is the patient who was admitted right after the battle, when things started calming down enough in the E.R. that she could go back to her ICU rotation.

_ Tony Stark.  _

All the news channels talked about what he did, how he saved everyone by pushing that nuclear missile into space. 

It's been three weeks. 

He hasn't opened his eyes since he fell down. The footage is still going on a loop in most of the news cycles. 

People pay their respects, talk of their admiration.

It angers Pam to no end. That man isn't dead and they all go talking about him like he's gone already. Ridiculous politicians try to steer the credit their way.

But Pam stays focused on her work, she takes care of Mr. Stark, makes sure he's comfortable even if he can't tell anyone. She hopes she's making a good job of it. The people who come to see him every day haven't complained so that's one clue. 

Mr. Stark gets a lot of visitors, much more than most of her usual patients in the ICU but she guesses that's because it hasn't been very long since he fell asleep, as she usually calls it.

The blonde woman with the bags under her eyes is always very nice, always has a nice word for Pam, always asks to know if there's been any developments since the day before. She also always comes in with a smile and a cheerful voice that sounds forced when she talks to  _ "Tony" _ , but she only ever cries when she's out of the room, never in front of him. 

Pam is  _ sure _ her patients can hear what their visitors and doctors tell them. So, she talks to Mr. Stark about her daughter who's attending college since last fall, Maria. She wants to be a veterinarian and Pam is very proud. She tells him about her one-eyed cat who's always up to something and laughs at her own stories genuinely, but also in the hope that Mr. Stark gets a little joy out of it too, wherever he might be in his head. 

There's a few others who come regularly, like Mr. Rhodes, the colonel who brought her muffins one day, and Mr. Thor who speaks much too loudly for the ICU but always compliments Pam, so she lets it slide. 

But the one person, aside from the blonde woman, who comes every day and only gets out of the room when others come to visit, is Mr. Rogers. He's asked that Pam call him Steve but she doesn't do first names with the family and friends of her patients. 

She thinks Mr. Rogers might be something between those two categories, it's not clear and she's not going to ask, but he has a tenderness in his eyes when he looks at Mr. Stark, like all he wants is to take him in his arms and not let go.

He too, talks to Mr. Stark relentlessly, sharing stories of his life in the 1940s, Pam heard him once or twice when she came to clean up the room a bit. She tries not to be indiscreet or anything but this man is always here, she couldn't not have overheard a few things here and there, in passing. 

Mr. Rogers sometimes looks sad, sometimes angry, most of the time though, he speaks low enough that only a rumble can be heard through the door and Pam is sure he's pleading with her sleeping patient to wake up.

She should be immune to the raw emotion of others by now. She's not. It still breaks her heart every time people's despair sneaks through the cracks in their voices. Pam doesn't cry much anymore - she's seen too much, has lost too many patients over the years, but Mr. Rogers' pain when he gets to the hospital every morning, hopeful and jittery with nerves only to find out nothing has changed since he left - it gets to her. 

She hears him once: Mr. Stark's been in a coma for almost two months, and Mr. Rogers still spends his days here, without faltering, but one day, she comes in to replace the flowers on Mr. Stark's nightstand, and he's crying. He's got his hands on his face, rubbing his eyes raw as tears keep flowing and he says it, so softly she's not sure she hears him right until she realizes he's repeating it like a mantra,  _ "please, wake up" _ .

Nothing happens, of course, because nothing ever does. But Pam can't help herself, ethics be damned, she goes to Mr. Rogers and gives him a side hug, puts her chin on his head and murmurs sweet encouragements in his ear - never promises, she can't do that - until the tears die down and he thanks her through hiccuping breaths. 

_ "You're all good, sir, just being human, that's all."  _

She goes on with her day's work then, cares for the other patients, some new, some old, the other families, the children. She does her best to provide everyone the most comfort even if it's not much in the end. She's preparing a new IV bag for Mrs. Halliwell, the lady who sleeps next door to Mr. Stark, when Mr. Rogers comes into the hallway - so it's 8 already - and gives her a hug as well.  _ "Thank you Pam, truly." _ And he leaves. Only to come back the next day.

There are few things better than to get back to work in the morning and be welcomed into the unit with good news. They don't happen often in this part of the hospital - only today, it did. 

Pam's shift starts at 7 a.m. when she works the mornings and her friend and fellow nurse Sarah is jumping in place by the time Pam's got her cup of coffee in hand and leaves the break room. 

"He woke up, three hours ago, he woke up!" 

It takes Pam a minute to mentally place who she's talking about before it dawns on her. "Did he?" Her voice sounds hopeful even to her own ears. Sarah starts nodding repeatedly. Pam walks to Mr. Stark's bedroom, faster and faster with each step. 

She's already opening the door when she realizes he might not be alone, and indeed he isn't.

Mr. Rhodes is in the room, leaning on the end of the bed, grinning from ear-to-ear. 

"Good God it's true." She says, forgetting professionalism. "I'm sorry. Mr. Stark, I'm Pam," she starts again. 

Mr. Rhodes is nice enough to come to her rescue when his friend frowns at her with an amused, if groggy, smile. "Pam's been taking care of you all this time, fantastic lady." 

Pam blushes a bit, goes to say it's too much, but Mr. Stark thanks her before his face scrunches up again. 

"You hurting somewhere sir?" 

"What? Oh no, just, hm, wondering, was Steve here?" Mr. Stark asks, a finger pointing towards the little notebook Mr. Rogers always comes with. Not surprising that he forgot it given the state he was in the day before, Pam muses. 

"Oh yes, sir," Pam smiles softly, "every day." 

She leaves then, but the door only closes after she hears him ask, incredulous, "Every day?" 

She almost cries when Mr. Rogers arrives, but she quickly hides with a wide smile so he won't get the wrong idea.

It's hard not to follow him into the room to witness their reunion. She assumes they're involved by now, they have to, or at least, she hopes they are. 

It's only later, when she's made her round of all the rooms that she's able to get back to Mr. Stark's. Mr. Rogers is still here, she thinks that's a good sign until she hears them arguing through the door. 

_ "I did put on the suit!"  _ Mr. Stark almost growls and Pam almost tears up once she realizes they're bickering. 

Only she pushes the door and sees that's not it at all. Mr. Rogers is lying on his side, plastered to Mr. Stark's body, his head is resting in his neck and neither man moves to acknowledge her entry.

"Ha, Pam!" Mr. Stark exclaims like they've known each other forever, Pam rather likes that, "Would you tell this idiot that I'm okay?" 

Pam tells Mr. Rogers what the doctors certainly told them already, that they can't be sure how long it will take for Mr. Stark to be fully back on his feet but that they're only expecting good things from now on. 

She hangs at the door a little after she leaves, eavesdropping is not  _ that _ bad, and they may say something to each other about Mr. Stark’s pain and that’s something she should know, right? Right. 

What she hears makes her heart expand in her chest, full with joy and a myriad other emotions - Maria would call it second-hand butterflies, certainly. 

_ "You know, if this hadn't happened, I'm pretty sure we'd still be fighting each other right know. I sure as fuck wouldn't have said anything at least."  _

_ "Me neither."  _

_ "Of course not, old people never admit to anything anyway. OUCH. Don't hurt me or I'll call Pam back!"  _

_ "I-- Tony, I… I really like you." _

_ "And there go my hopes to say it first…"  _

A dramatic sigh follows that statement and Pam smiles, she was right to think she'd like Mr. Stark.

_ "Like you too, Capsicle. _ "

And if Pam can't help but take a peek through the ajar door when a few minutes pass without another word exchanged between the two men; and if her eyes fill with happy, relieved tears when she sees them kissing gingerly, like teenagers sharing their first kiss, well, no one could really blame her, right?

  
  



End file.
